My Farewell to the Mother City

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As I sit here and write my last blog entry from Cape Town, South Africa, I'm dumbfounded as to how these past couple months have blown by. I'm happy to say that I seized every moment and opportunity that came to me, even if it meant serious sleep deprivation, but somehow I feel as if the time got away from me. I believe that all my fellow volunteers/interns in Cape Town would agree when I say that this place truly engulfs you. You become swallowed up by the eclectic lifestyle of South Africa, the work that you do, the friends that you make, the families that you connect with, and by pretty much all aspects of life. I feel as if it were yesterday that I walked through the front door to meet my host mom, Pam Nelson and now I'm struggling to say goodbye to her. I am extremely attached to her and very thankful for the support she offered me while I was here. She was always there to listen to me complain about something or tell tales of my night or even make fun of me for my obsession with sweets. She has given me the option to come back and stay with her, should I ever want to study at the University of Cape Town, and I truly hope to take her up on that offer.

We spent our last weekend in South Africa on the, ever popular, Garden Route tour. It was a two night, three day tour through what is one of the most popular destinations in the country, and for good reason. It is beautiful and packed full of different outdoor activities! We started off the weekend with a game drive, seeing the Big 5 of Africa. The Big 5 are the stereotypical African Animals: Lion, Elephant, Buffalo, Rhino, and Leopard. We also saw giraffes, zebras, and various types of antelope. It was an exciting experience to see the lions, for as we whipped around the corner of a large brush in our safari jeep, we see a huge male lion directly in front of us. As if that wasn't intimidating enough, he was interested in getting a closer look so he began to approach us. As he did that, our tour guide slammed on the gas and we took off in order to put distance between us and the lion. It was very thrilling, especially for a car packed full of squealing girls.

The rest of the weekend was spent zip-lining through the forest in Tsitsikamma, a small town along the Garden Route, feeding and walking elephants at an elephant sanctuary, bungee jumping at the highest bungee bridge in the world, and petting cheetahs at a wildlife farm. The nights were spent relaxing at the hostel, which was dubbed the Afrovibe and was a nice and laid back place. In my last week her in the Mother City, I have been desperately grabbing at all the time that I can with friends. The last three nights in a row we have gone for goodbye dinners and spending time at the local pubs. Today after work, I plan to hike my beloved Lion's Head Mountain for one final time to see the full moon! Tomorrow my wonderful host sisters, Keely, Valentina, Katie and I are taking Pam out to dinner to spend quality time and have a proper goodbye. I'm still questioning when I'll have time to pack, but I'm sure I'll work that out.

I tried to keep the entry short this time, as I have so many details I could bore you with, but I'll do that in person. I feel mildly obligated to write all I can about how much I've learned about people, life, and myself in my time here, but I feel it would all come out cliche and less meaningful than it is to me. I'll summarize by saying that I've found out things about myself that I never knew were there, such as I can survive on a lot less than I thought I could, that I do in fact like to be outdoors and active and messy, that I'm quick to grab the metaphorical bull by the metaphorical horns, and that I can actually go with the flow. I'm so looking forward to spending a week in the African bush, without electricity or outside contact and at the beginning of my time, I don't think I would have been excited. Well, here we go, onto the next adventure! I'll write when I reach Europe, if I survive the wildlife.

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Comments

[Uncle Rob]

Hannah and Katie leave the wilds of Africa
Since the both of you were incommunicado for a week while in the bush but have since left for Europe, I congratulate you two on completing an adventure of a lifetime. I imagine that you learned much including much about yourselves. Bravo!